Turning in a Dead-Eye Cutter-Stay fashion (fig. 34).—A bend is made in the stay or shroud round its own part and hove together with a bar and strand; two or three seizings diminishing in size (one round and one or two either round or flat) are hove on taut and snug, the end being at the side of the fellow part. The dead-eye is put in and the eye driven down with a commander.

Turning in a Dead-Eye end up (fig. 35).—The shroud is measured round the dead-eye and marked where a throat-seizing is hove on; the dead-eye is then forced into its place, or it may be put in first. The end beyond a is taken up taut and secured with a round seizing; higher still the end is secured by another seizing. As it is important that the lay should always be kept in the rope as much as possible, these eyes should be formed conformably, either right-handed or left-handed. It is easily seen which way a rope would naturally kink by putting a little extra twist into it. A shroud whose dead-eye is turned in end up will bear a fairer strain, but is more dependent on the seizings; the under turns of the throat are the first to break and the others the first to slip. With the cutter-stay fashion the standing part of the shroud gives way under the nip of the eye. A rope will afford the greatest resistance to strain when secured round large thimbles with a straight end and a sufficient number of flat or racking seizings. To splice shrouds round dead-eyes is objectionable on account of opening the strands and admitting water, thus hastening decay. In small vessels, especially yachts, it is admissible on the score of neatness; in that case a round seizing is placed between the dead-eye and the splice. The dead-eyes should be in diameter 1½ times the circumference of a hemp shroud and thrice that of wire; the lanyard should be half the nominal size of hemp and the same size as wire: thus, hemp-shroud 12 in., wire 6 in., dead-eye 18 in., lanyard 6 in.

Fig. 36.

Short Splice (fig. 36).—The most common description of splice is when a rope is lengthened by another of the same size, or nearly so. Fig. 36 represents a splice of this kind: the strands have been unlaid, married and passed through with the assistance of a marling-spike, over one strand and under the next, twice each way. The ends are then cut off close. To render the splice neater the strands should have been halved before turning them in a second time, the upper half of each strand only being turned in; then all are cut off smooth. Eye Splice.—Unlay the strands and place them upon the same rope spread at such a distance as to give the size of the eye; enter the centre strand (unlaid) under a strand of the rope (as above), and the other two in a similar manner on their respective sides of the first; taper each end and pass them through again. If neatness is desired, reduce the ends and pass them through once more; cut off smooth and serve the part disturbed tightly with suitable hard line. Uses too numerous to mention. Cut Splice.—Made in a similar manner to an eye splice, but of two pieces of rope, therefore with two splices. Used for mast-head pendants, jib-guys, breast backstays, and even odd shrouds, to keep the eyes of the rigging lower by one part. It is not so strong as two separate eyes. Horseshoe Splice.—Made similar to the above, but one part much shorter than the other, or another piece of rope is spliced across an eye, forming a horseshoe with two long legs. Used for back-ropes on dolphin striker, back stays (one on each side) and cutter’s runner pendants. Long Splice.—The strands must be unlaid about three times as much as for a short splice and married—care being taken to preserve the lay or shape of each. Unlay one of the strands still further and follow up the vacant space with the corresponding strand of the other part, fitting it firmly into the rope till only a few inches remain. Treat the other side in a similar manner. There will then appear two long strands in the centre and a long and a short one on each side. The splice is practically divided into three distinct parts; at each the strands are divided and the corresponding halves knotted (as shown on the top of fig. 38) and turned in twice. The half strand may, if desired, be still further reduced before the halves are turned in for the second time. This and all other splices should be well stretched and hammered into shape before the ends are cut off. The long splice alone is adapted to running ropes.

Fig. 37.

Shroud Knot (fig. 37).—Pass a stop at such distance from each end of the broken shroud as to afford sufficient length of strands, when it is unlaid, to form a single wall knot on each side after the parts have been married; it will then appear as represented in the figure, the strands having been well tarred and hove taut separately. The part a provides the knot on the opposite side and the ends b, b; the part c provides the knot and the ends d, d. After the knot has been well stretched the ends are tapered, laid smoothly between the strands of the shroud, and firmly served over. This knot is used when shrouds or stays are broken. French Shroud Knot.—Marry the parts with a similar amount of and as before; stop one set of strands taut up on the shroud (to keep the parts together), and turn the ends back on their own part, forming bights. Make a single wall knot with the other three strands round the said bights and shroud; haul the knot taut first and stretch the whole; then heave down the bights close: it will look like the ordinary shroud knot. It is very liable to slip. If the ends by which the wall knot is made after being hove were passed through the bights, it would make the knot stronger. The ends would be tapered and served.

Fig. 38.

Flemish Eye (fig. 38).—Secure a spar or toggle twice the circumference of the rope intended to be rove through the eye; unlay the rope which is to form the eye about three times its circumference, at which part place a strong whipping. Point the rope vertically under the eye, and bind it taut up by the core if it is four-stranded rope, otherwise by a few yarns. While doing so arrange six or twelve pieces of spun-yarn at equal distances on the wood and exactly halve the number of yarns that have been unlaid. If it is a small rope, select two or three yarns from each side near the centre; cross them over the top at a, and half-knot them tightly. So continue till all are expended and drawn down tightly on the opposite side to that from which they came, being thoroughly intermixed. Tie the pieces of spun-yarn which were placed under the eye tightly round various parts, to keep the eye in shape when taken off the spar, till they are replaced by turns of marline hove on as taut as possible, the hitches forming a central line outside the eye. Heave on a good seizing of spun-yarn close below the spar, and another between six and twelve inches below the first; it may then be parcelled and served; the eye is served over twice, and well tarred each time. As large ropes are composed of so many yarns, a greater number must be knotted over the toggle each time; a 4-in. rope has 132 yarns, which would require 22 knottings of six each time; a 10-in. rope has 834 yarns, therefore, if ten are taken from each side every time, about twice that number of hitches will be required; sometimes only half the yarns are hitched, the others being merely passed over. The chief use of these eyes has been to form the collars of stays, the whole stay in each case having to be rove through it—a very inconvenient device. It is almost superseded for that purpose by a leg spliced in the stay and lashing eyes abaft the mast, for which it is commonly used at present. This eye is not always called by the same name, but the weight of evidence is in favour of calling it a Flemish eye. Ropemaker’s Eye, which also has alternative names, is formed by taking out of a rope one strand longer by 6 in. or a foot than the required eye, then placing the ends of the two strands a similar distance below the disturbance of the one strand, that is, at the size of the eye; the single strand is led back through the vacant space it left till it arrives at the neck of the eye, with a similar length of spare end to the other two strands. They are all seized together, scraped, tapered, marled and served. The principal merit is neatness. Mouse on a Stay.—Formed by turns of coarse spun-yarn hove taut round the stay, over parcelling at the requisite distance from the eye to form the collar; assistance is given by a padding of short yarns distributed equally round the rope, which, after being firmly secured, especially at what is to be the under part, are turned back over the first layer and seized down again, thus making a shoulder; sometimes it is formed with parcelling only. In either case it is finished by marling, followed by serving or grafting. The use is to prevent the Flemish eye in the end of the stay from slipping up any farther.

Rolling Hitch (fig. 39).—Two round turns are taken round a spar or large rope in the direction in which it is to be hauled and one half-hitch on the other side of the hauling part. This is very useful, as it can be put on and off quickly.

Fig. 39.Fig. 40.